Welcome to the Forest
Service Directory of Watershed Context
Water is one of the most important natural resources
flowing from forests. The USDA Forest Service manages
the largest single source of water in the U.S., with
about 18% of the nation’s drinking water originating
from 193 million acres of land. A network of water
and watershed researchers and resource specialists
support stewardship efforts at all levels of the Forest
Service
to promote healthy, sustainable watersheds that are
fundamental to ecosystems and people.
Within Forest Service Research and Development, scientists
are conducting vital research on experimental watersheds,
located on Experimental
Forests and Ranges, to better understand how water
moves through forests and ranges, how to better manage
the land to provide reliable supplies of clean water,
and to develop our basic understanding of ecosystems
and the role of water in sustaining those ecosystems.
This directory is designed to help connect these experimental
watersheds, and create a network of research sites.
The concept of a Directory of Watershed Context was
developed at a workshop to create synthesis opportunities
among Experimental Forests and Ranges . The Directory
of Watershed Context is a searchable database describing
the gaged experimental watersheds within the network
of Experimental Forests and Ranges (we hope to expand
the Directory beyond Experimental Forests and Ranges
in the future). The goal of the the Directory is to
improve the visibility of these very valuable experimental
watersheds, and to make them more accessible to research
scientists, interested lay public, and land managers
seeking sources of information. Search for Forest
Service sites with watersheds that possess particular
characteristics of interest (e.g. bedrock type, or
vegetative cover), and you will be provided contact
information for experimental watersheds that match
your criteria. To learn how to begin using this directory,
select the "Searching
for watersheds" link at the left margin of
this page.
NOTE: This version of
the watershed directory is currently compatible with
Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 6 and up), and
Mozilla Firefox (version 3 and up) browsers only.
The next version of this application will be compatible
with other major browsers, such as Opera, Safari,
and Google Chrome.
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